HavenBlood
by TakeItToTheMax5
Summary: please see front AN for summary.
1. A call to arms

**AN: PLEASE READ!**

**Summary: The Avengers are asked to become mentors to a group of young 'soldiers'. Unknown to them, they are being dragged into an ever brewing war, and they become the ones needing mentoring. CHARACTER DEATH in later chapters, swearing, violence... possible ooc because I can't seem to write Fury to save my life. Set after Avengers Movie.**

**This is kind of a crossover. I will be using characters from The Inheritance Cycle, Resident Evil Movies, and the Frankenstein Series by Dean Koontz. You do not need to be a major fan of any of them to get this story, and their actual story lines are not heavily played upon in this story. They're just kind of dragged in kicking and screaming to enjoy the party.**

**This is the Third in my "Haven" Series, but the other two are not up anywhere. HavenBlood is written in a way that you can start with it, and it'll make a fair amount of sense.**

**Rated T mostly, but some chapters involving disturbing content will be rated M. I don't focus on pairings too much, so there won't be any need for those warnings.**

**...and I hope you have fun.**

* * *

You'd be hard pressed to find a vantage point higher than Hawkeye at that moment, but they had managed to snag space at a level building a block from the action. Being used to battle themselves, the distance made the fight below seem strangely muted. The effect was strengthened by the silence that rested between the members. There was no need for words at the moment as they each made their own observations.

Eventually a point was made.

"Hawk's going to be a liability."

"Why? 'Cause he's Norm?"

"No, because of what happened with him and the Trickster. He's not 100% on the mission, he's got baggage."

The second voice gave a chortle,

"And we're baggage free?"

"That's what I'm saying; we're already full of that shit, why do we need more? We can at least… we…."

"We were designed to do this." A third voice cut through. Silence fell again as the thought sunk in. In the distance there was a roar as a green beast flipped over an empty bus onto the enemies below. A mechanical whine echoed through the canyon of buildings as a streak of Red and Gold light the spilt gas and scattered foes.

The defender of Hawkeye spoke up again.

"So what does that make the TinMan, and the Demi God? All the others, what does this all make them?"

The first voice shot back.

"Big Damn heroes, that's all they are. And when shit goes down, they're gonna be the first to fall. Big Heroes are always the first to go down…. They're going to be cannon fodder when we get down to it. And the Dragon's not going to let them in for that reason. Dragon hates using people for cannon fodder."

"What other option do we have? If the Keeper's right, they're going to learn about this all eventually."

Silence descended again. A moment later, a bolt of lightning streaked from the sky and dispersed across the street. The City went dark for a moment. When the lights returned, the only evidence of the occupants was quickly cooling spots on the roof.

* * *

"It hasn't even been Twenty Four hours, and he's already barking at us?"

The ever present Stark Channel was the only sound in the air ship as the team rocketed off. It had been a long couple of days, and the crew was getting worn down.

"Is it too much to ask for some 'me time'? I'm dying for a get away, and I have a business to run. Doesn't he know that?"

The continuous drone of Tony did not help the situation.

"I for one am glad for the need of us. It gives me reason to stay on Midguard. Does that not gladden you friend?" Thor tried to lighten the mood, although even the Demi God was starting to tire of the onslaught recently. The Avengers were supposed to establish a sense of "don't even think about it" in criminals. Instead- ever since the battle with Loki and their 'unveiling'- every two bit criminal had amped up their antics, hoping to take on the team.

There was no honour in fighting enemies less than you. There was no glory in killing people that had no true reason to be fighting the Avengers. Thor knew that these thoughts also weighed on his team mates. For this, he was glad. At least he fought alongside people with honour, people that had no love for this bloodshed. They did it because they were called to do it, and that was all. That gave Thor hope. That gave him pride.

The rest of the flight was spattered with Tony's banter, along with comments from the rest of the team every once in a while. When they landed though, all comments dried up. Agent Hill met them at the deck of the Helicarrier, grim faced and short on words.

"Fury wants to see you. Something's come up." With that, she turned and stalked off to the front of the ship. When they neared the nav deck, Hill gave a sharp turn and led them down a side hall. Captain Rogers glanced over at Banner, a look of question. Every meeting they'd received from Fury was at the table on the nav deck.

This wasn't right.

"Agent Hill…?" Cap started, and then tried to figure out how to say what was on his mind.

"Whatever Fury has to share with you, it's been cleared for you six and him only. Too many ears on the deck for this."

Various glances were thrown around. After Coulson's funeral, Hill had tried desperately to fill in his spot. It had worked well, so for her to be excluded from this was a red flag. The Agent also seemed to feel this, as it didn't take a social genius to notice she was fuming.

The team piled into a small conference room near the Port side of the ship. It rested under one of the engines, and the back noise was low enough to not impede conversation, but strong enough to probably mess with any planted bugs. Thick files were spread around the table, each stamped with the needed warnings of "classified" "Top Secret", etc.

At this point, they all knew the drill. Fury wouldn't acknowledge them till he was damn well ready. Best to sit and wait. Even Tony had gotten used to the varied lengths of silence that would ensue.

Fury clocked in at three minutes and twelve seconds this time –Barton would inform the others later. It was his habit to track the time- before he turned and looked at the group.

"I received this information a little over four hours ago. Bear with me as I try and figure this out myself.

"In the files you have is information about a dual Government run project that has been held in the tightest security grip _I've _ever seen. It was a union piece between the US and Canada, titled the 'Haven Project'. Take a look if you want, but I'm not waiting for you. I've been instructed to give you the bare bones, and let you work out the meat yourselves."

Romanoff flipped the folder open, confident she could still keep tabs on Fury. After reading the summary paragraph though, she slammed it shut, staring straight ahead. Barton sat across from her, and gave her a questioning look, but she wouldn't return his gaze.

"A little over a year ago, members of the US government noticed that there seemed to be a discrepancy between financial and energy reports throughout the country. More digging revealed recourses moving in areas of the country that could not be accounted for. Eventually it was discovered that a number of unlicensed medical facilities were hidden in the country. They were performing illegal and twisted experiments on a number of subjects, most notably human.

"A couple of these facilities were shut down, and the subjects removed. Whatever staff members found on site were taken into custody. Canada also found a few of these operations, and both countries decided to try and set up a program that would track down the rest of them, apprehend the leaders for these operations, and try and care for the subjects that survived.

"The care for the human subjects was called the "Haven Project" and was run in Canada. It offered a residence where they would receive aid transitioning back into the real world, medical support, and shelter."

"But that didn't work as well as they were expecting." Banner tapped the folder. After Romanoff's reaction to it, no one else had opened it. The room had grown more and more tense with the information Fury had provided. Romanoff still had not looked at anything but the spot on the wall her eyes had first landed, Barton had snapped whatever had been in his hands in half from the force of his clenched fists, and the rest of the team had varying looks of weary shock on their faces.

"No." Fury gave the curt reply that was expected, "Many of the subjects have been escaping and performing… their _own_ hero missions. Putting not only themselves, but the whole project in jeopardy. We've been called in to provide support and mentorship to them."

"We're being asked to babysit some loose cannons?" Stark shot.

"Negative, we're being asked to put a leash and muzzle on an untrained dog before it bites the wrong thing." Fury glared at Stark with his one good eye, daring for a challenge to the statement.

"What have they done that would cause us to be brought in?" Rogers asked, trying to diffuse the brewing show off between Fury and Stark. The two stared off for a little longer before Fury turned to address the Captain.

"They're behind the CHLI bombing that happened a couple of weeks ago."

"What do you mean behind?"

"What I mean, Captain, is that they're responsible for the rising damage costs and three injuries." Fury snapped. Fury doesn't snap at Rogers. Everyone stopped, letting it all sink in.

"So, what do you need us to do?"Barton spoke, glancing at Fury. The Director paused before answering, trying to level himself out. Being a man of many secrets, he wasn't a fan of when secrets were kept from _him_, and there were still layers upon layers about this whole thing he had no idea about.

He was sending his team in blind.

"A meeting between the two teams has been set up at a neutral and open location. They have asked for our help in a mission of theirs. You are to assess not only the mission, but the team. Report back to me before accepting or agreeing to anything."

Some of them nodded. That was all he really had for them. No other info then what was already in the files.

He was sending his team in unprepared.

"Dismissed."

* * *

Nat was the first to leave, storming out of the room. She had left the folder behind, so Clint grabbed it before heading after her. He had never seen her this frazzled by a mission before it had even started. Sometimes after, there was once during. But at the beginning, she was still able to see it as another "ABC" Job. There were no emotions in it yet.

Obviously there were some here. There was a lot here.

Nat didn't like showing too much emotion in front of the rest of the team. There were times here and there, when they all just let go and tried to live completely in that moment. Those moments were usually aided with a couple shots of harsh Russian Liquor. But this was harsh, open, and completely independent of any alcohol.

The others at least had the brains to hold back as he walked after her.

"Nat."

Nothing.

"Nat!"

Still nothing, and if she got to the bridge before he got to her, _something_ was going to blow up. Their luck was just like that.

"Natasha!" He reached out and grabbed her shoulder –stupid idea- and before he could react, she had twisted his arm around and slammed him into a wall. He whipped around only to stop as she shot forward.

"They're _kids_!" Natasha hissed. For half a second Clint was scared of the redhead in front of him. She pulled back slightly, shaking from the anger.

"They're kids. Did you read the file, did you see how young some of them were?"

"No one else opened the file after you did Nat." Clint said calmly. She didn't seem to hear his comment.

"They keep telling us that this won't ever happen again. But yet every time you blink, it's getting worse. I thought _we_ were supposed to make sure this doesn't ever happen again. I thought _we_ were supposed to keep people safe. I thought _we_ were supposed to stop all of this."

"Nat… you know we can't be everywhere." A dangerous thing to say, but she needed to hear it. It stopped her for a moment, and she stood in the hall trying to control her breathing.

"They're kids, Clint. Kids." With that, she turned and walked off. She at least had the thought to turn early and take the back halls to her quaters on the ship. Clint watched her go, then opened the folder. The first page was bio sheet with a picture. It showed a small blue eyed boy with Military buzzed hair, and a look of obedience that barely covered a look of fear.

_Alias: Shay_

_Age: 5_


	2. Max

A/N: Sorry this has taken me so long to update. Miriellar, race2win, thank you guys for following. PLEASE stay with me. I'm telling you after this it get's better.

We finally get to meet the others, and this was seriously hard to do, because in my head, all the relationships are formed. So having to go back to the _very_ beginning and strip it down was very hard for me. But I've got it now. We're good.

Eragon and Murtagh are owned by Christopher Paolini. Alice is owned by… I dunno, but she's not owned by me. Lisbeth is _based_ loosly off of Lisbeth Salander, who is owned by Stieg Larsson. JC, Max, Mia, and Kaden are all original characters of mine… please don't steal them. Avengers is owned by Marvel and Disney and that whole crew.

If you sue me, the only things I can give you is my book collection and my Tardis cookie jar. So it's not really worth it.

ON WITH THE SHOW!

* * *

To say that we were a little high strung was an understatement. The half of the small restaurant we were occupying was littered in straw wrappers, tissue, fries, and liquids. We had spread ourselves around the tables, either perched on them, or the backs of chairs.

No one would sit still. No one would even attempt it. The coin in my hand flashed in the light, flipping from knuckle to knuckle. The skin had worn down from it, and it was starting to bleed.

We'd been sitting here for a little over an hour. Waiting, scoping, planning, prepping, waiting some more.

We were all so very close to losing it and leaving.

Eragon saved us.

"They're coming." He called from the table he had spread himself over. With varying levels of energy, we arranged ourselves into a slightly more presentable orientation. Mia placed herself near the half wall that separated our area from the rest of the building. Eragon and Murtagh placed themselves at the two fire exits, chairs pushed up to keep them from opening, front legs off the floor. They both gave an air of nonplused, but I noted Eragon's reddening ears and Murtagh's tapping pinkie. Their own tell tale signs that they were nervous. JC and Lisbeth perched themselves on the arms of chairs, chatting in Swedish. I had plodded behind a table in the corner, giving me eyes on the whole situation. I could barely suppress a growl as Alice squeezed herself beside me.

"Mia put you on babysitter duty?"

She gave a snort of laughter, elbowing me.

It was a serious question.

Kaden sauntered over to the opening and leaned against the table there. He would be the first one they saw. Oh how wonderful.

I tapped beside Alice's hand. She arched her eyebrow and I tapped again.

_What's up?_

_Who put Kaden in charge?_

_Why? Whatever could be the problem with that plan? We're not trying to make a good impression, are we?_

I gave her a look, and she just about lost it there. She was trying to recover when they all walked in.

First in was the Captain of course, brisk and all military like. Next, the Demi God. That was like watching a mountain come through the door. He had a pleasant enough smile for the people that looked up when he walked in, but I'm not one to trust folks whose arms are thicker than my neck. After him came the two Assassins. Typical behaviour. Scanning of exits, weapons, opponents, possible casualties. After being with my crew for a year, I was used to it. It weirded me out know when I _didn't_ see it happen. And bring up the rear were the brains. Stark was talking Banner's ear off. Banner looked like he wanted to be here as much as I wanted to be. They crossed over the restaurant to our area, and Kaden began his act.

"Friends, co-horts, fellow freaks. Welcome to the show!" He gave a grand bow, extending his left arm out and waving it through the air. All of them breezed past Mia, barely glancing at her. That was the point. The Assassins both gave a quick glance, which was all they needed, but the others barely even gave her a once over. Cap was too busy glancing between Eragon and Murtagh, who were covering the only forward exits. Murtagh grinned and gave him a wave, cheeky bastard.

We were situated more to the right of the room, so they all wrapped around the left of the main table. Hawkeye and Black widow pressed up against the wall, parallel to my table. Alice turned to partially block me from view, thus getting herself into a staring contest with the Widow.

_She's going to poison your drink if you keep it up, y'know._ I mumbled. She had stayed connected, and I could feel Murtagh also connected with her. We were all probably chained together, but I still wasn't aware enough to feel more than one or two secondary links. I checked my blocks, remembering to keep them strong, but leaving… feelers out so that I could keep connected to Alice.

_Sucks for her I can't die then._

_As far as we know…._

_Well if she figures it out, I will personally come back and thank her._ She gave a quick smile. It was a joke. A twisted one at that, but still a joke. If Alice was joking, we were okay.

As soon as everyone was sitting, Kaden gave a toned whistle, letting it rise through the scale. When he stopped, the cook came out and started blabbering in Korean. Within minutes, we were the only ones left in the diner. The Avengers all tensed, glancing around. We kept our charade up, waiting for their move.

"Staking the deck a bit, aren't we?" Cap said. Kaden swung around and plopped himself in a seat across from them.

"Hey, early bird gets the worm. That's fair, right?"

"This was never a neutral location, was it?" Banner spoke, analysing a fork he had picked up.

"Nope. Wishing you guys had taken this a little bit more seriously, aren't ya?" He gave one of those grins that made _me_ want to slap him.

"So… should we all just torch the files we got?" Stark shot. His looked reminded me of a chess player that had been duped into a stupid move.

"The files are all real… but our caregivers are unaware that we're here with you. They're still convinced we're tucked snugly in our beds, sleeping away the hours till dawn. But the files are all real." Kaden leaned back in the chair, clasping his hands behind his head, grinning from ear to ear. Everyone else in the place was tense. Even Eragon and Murtagh's façade had slipped. JC 'stared' at a point in the wall, Lisbeth glared coolly at Thor, and Alice spun the point of a knife into the table. I had kept my hands under the table, but the coin still flashed back and forth across my knuckles. Mia had placed herself at the head of the table, standing in the doorway to the rest of the diner.

I reached up and tapped beside Alice's hand.

_Are we doing okay?_

_Struggling a bit. Mia's going to have to intervene soon, or Kaden's going drive this boat into the rocks._

_Should I do anything?_

_Sure, crack 'em a smile._

Okay. I forced my mouth into what I was hoping was a suitable visual for a smile. Alice glanced my way, then did a double take and stared.

_Max, I was joking. You're scaring the Demi God kiddo._

_Oh…._ I let my face go slack, feeling it heat with blood. She was right though; Thor had glanced my way, and was now giving me a confused look.

Mia picked up on the cues, or either Alice had relayed the message of Kaden's unstable captaining of this ship.

"We need your help."

"And we would help a rogue band of kids that blew up a hospital…why?" Banner looked up at Mia. We were expecting that one to come back and bite us in the arse.

"That was my bad." I mumbled. Everyone looked over at me, and the one time I actually _wanted_ Alice blocking me from view, she shuffled away, leaving me out in the open.

"It was supposed to slow burn, but I read the labels wrong when I was making it, and I added the wrong chemicals, it went boom instead of burn." I stammered out my excuse, like it was going to help.

"We didn't _want_ to blow it up. It was just supposed to be a distraction. We just wanted the files there…. Sorry."

Alice shifted back over, covering me from view.

"You don't have to say sorry."

"She injured people, ruined life saving equipment." Cap said.

"This is a war Mr. Patriot. You of all people should know that shit happens."

"If this is the kind of stuff you want our help with, you can count us out. We're not going to go around causing havoc and wrecking stuff."

"If I remember correctly, that's exactly what happened in New York." JC piped. That was a bit of a low blow. We'd seen the footage when we had returned from a field mission, and although NYC looked like a battle field –which it had been- we knew it could have been a hell of a lot worse. It was then when we started thinking about reaching out and expanding the crew.

"We were hoping that if you helped us… we wouldn't _have_ to be breaking in to all the facilities." Alice cut through. She crossed her arms and leaned back into the wall (oh look, I'm in view again, that's a good thing).

"You're kids… why should we be putting you in danger? Why should we trust that you won't go screaming to mommy when it gets ugly?" Stark said. He glanced at us all, like he expected us to crack a laugh and call it a night. WE all tensed, pissed with the 'mommy' comment. All for different reasons.

"You don't know shit all what we've been through. You think you get the whole picture, a _fraction_ of the picture from some words? Besides, according to _your_ file Mr. Stark, you'd shit yourself if some guy with a jihad accent came up behind you and muttered 'boo' in your ear." Kaden shot back.

Damn. Even I knew that was way out of line.

A harsh silence fell on the room as the blood drained from Stark's. His fist wrapped around a knife in front of him. Before he could try and stab Kaden with it (failing miserably in the process), Mia intervened.

"Ou moun fou! _Naga_!" She walked over and twapped Kaden over the head. The chair crashed to the ground as he span out of it, a knife now in _his_ hand. He stopped dead though when he got a good look at Mia's eyes. A low rumble rolled through the room, and that was enough to make Kaden drop the knife and move along. He kicked JC's chair, making the kid wobble on his perch, then threw himself into the chair behind Lis.

Mia watched him for a moment, then slowly seated herself at the main table. She kept her hands flat down and away from any sharp objects. To most it looked completely non-threatening, which was the point. But I'd seen her toss tables across rooms with her hands in that position.

"Excuse the sociopath. He's harmless really."

"Are you the leader of this little group?" Cap asked. He looked angry. Pissed would be the word Murtagh would use. That's because he had just discovered it, and was in love with it.

"When its appropriate."

"You need to keep better control of those who look to you." Cap actually leaned forward, pointing a finger at Mia.

Stupid is as stupid does. Mia at least kept her cool.

"I said he was harmless."

"He insulted one of my men. Are we supposed to take you seriously if stuff like that happens?"

That finger jabbed its way in her direction.

Before Captain dumbass-let alone the rest of his team- could blink, Mia had grabbed his wrist and twisted in such a way that his head slammed into the table, her free hand pressed to the side of Caps neck, a knife resting against the back of his neck.

"MIA!"

Thor, Stark, Barton, and I are standing. The accused now stares at me like I'm a lunatic.

"We need them."

"No we don't."

"Yes! Yes we do. Mia, trust me."

She stared at me for a moment, then pulled back slowly. The knife disappeared back into the folds of her clothes. Good luck ever finding it. As soon as she let go of his neck, Cap whipped back up. He looked like he was either going to lose all control over his bowels, or start swinging. Neither option was recommended. Instead, he lowered himself back into the chair as Mia retreated and leaned against the table that JC and the others were at. Barton leans into the wall, crossing his arms over his chest. Thor and Stark both sit though.

Which leaves me standing, and everyone staring.

Alice isn't hiding me from view.

Hey, cool.

I stand there like an idiot for a bit, trying to formulate a sentence that everyone would understand. Trying to figure out how to say that we need a roll model. Trying to figure out how to tell them that we are _way_ over our heads here. Trying to figure out how to tell them that we could use their help.

"We… we need you guys. We need to know that someone has our back. This whole… thing is too big for us, and we could use some extra hands. The fact that you're tied in with SHIELD, which is tied in with the US government kind of helps also. Too many people tied in with the experiments are slipping through the cracks… and we're just… we're shadows in this whole thing. No one's going to listen to a group of misfit kids, especially misfits like us." It all falls out in a jumbled mess, and I stutter like there's no tomorrow… but it's out, and it's said.

_You did good kiddo, _Alice tells me, and I can feel myself relax a bit. There's a pain in my hand, and I realize that I've got a death grip on my coin. The pain grounds me. I don't feel like I'm going to float away anymore.

"So what do you want us to do?"

The Super spies finally make some noise. Romanoff is looking at me, but I am all out of words.

"Whatever you can do."Mia steps back in to the conversation, "If that means we just tell you what we've found, give you names so you can be on the lookout for them, or if that means you're actually coming into the field with us. Whatever help you can offer is all we're asking."

Mia's put the ball back with them. At least, I think that's the right term used for this situation. I'll have to ask Alice later. Cap looks down at his plate, and you can tell he's thinking it over. Silence falls over us again, and my band starts getting twitchy. Daniel would be so proud of us if he could see how long we've all stayed in the same room without blowing something up or creating a fight.

Daniel can never know this happened.

Which means we have to get back to Haven tonight.

Which means I still have do to the test tomorrow.

Damn.

I'm snapped out of this depressing thought when Cap finally speaks up.

"If we decided to help in the field, when would you need us?"

Mia smiles, giving a small nod.

"Two days Cap. Friday night."

Yup… still gotta do that test.

* * *

A/N: Well, now that the first confrontation is out of the way, I can now breathe and relax with this. Next chapter is going to be a little twisted and dark… I apologize. Hopefully it will be up in the next 48 hours. Please comment with any suggestions, comments, critiques and questions. They mean the world to me.


	3. process of elimination

**A/N:HAHA, update in 24 hours? I win. I'm trying to get as much of this hammered out in the next couple of days as I'm leaving for writing camp for a week.**

**The first part of this was written while Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds "o children" played on repeat. The second part, with Clint had "O Brother, Down to the river to pray" playing, again on repeat.**

**Hope you enjoy… we're going to get cheerier in the next parts… I think.**

**Eragon and Murtagh are owned by Christopher Paolini. Alice is owned by… I dunno, but she's not owned by me. Lisbeth is based loosly off of Lisbeth Salander, who is owned by Stieg Larsson. JC, Max, Mia, and Kaden are all original characters of mine… please don't steal them. Avengers is owned by Marvel and Disney and that whole crew.**

**If you sue me, the only things I can give you is my book collection and my Tardis cookie jar. So it's not really worth it.**

* * *

Captain Steve Rogers, AKA Captain America, was still trying to work out this new world. In front of him sat a perfect example of things he didn't understand about this century. Like why a building that was trying to stay hidden had every single light blazing at full power.

"Fuck." Came a voice beside him. Mia-the apparent leader of what was known as the HavenBlood- was glaring at the building. So maybe this wasn't normal in the 21st Century.

"They've gone to white out. We're too late…._brazul_!"

"Oi, that's my curse." Came another voice-Murtagh, brother to Eragon, age not disclosed- from behind them.

"I think she's allowed to use it this time. I think it's socially appropriate for the situation." That comment was from Max, who was on Rogers' left. She was also a puzzle for him. Baggy clothes, short cropped hair, a boys name, and strange monotone voice. He had mistook her for a boy until they had gotten back and really gone through the files, along with all the other information that the kids had given them.

Banner was back at the Tower, piecing it all together. The Hulk was not something you wanted on a stealth mission, and Banner couldn't handle a weapon that well while remaining completely calm. Rogers still felt bad for the call though.

He was on the west side of the building with Max, Mia, and Murtagh. The rest of the Avengers were surrounding the other sides along with the rest of the HavenBlood crew. Mia and Rogers had come to the conclusion that Mia was giving the orders this mission, but Rogers still had call over the Avengers. They could pull out at any point, but they were following her calls. He glanced over at her to remind her about that. Before the words had even formed, she made her move.

"They've vacated. We go in, see if there's anything or anyone to salvage, and see if the hardware is still accessible. Everyone aims to meet in the main Barracks, but keep the four points of entrance. Full silence unless it's an emergency, we'll break when everyone's in the hall."

Roger's nodded, and then relayed the directions over the com.

"Barracks? Is the canteen still up and running? I'm craving some tasteless military cuisine." Stark could be heard calling back. Full silence was going to kill him.

"Actually, if they vacated, no one's going to be in there. And there probably won't be any suppli—" Max stopped, slowly breaking into a grin.

"That was a joke… right?"

"That it was short-stuff, that it was." Murtagh chortled.

"I got it. I got the joke." Max said with pride. It was the most emotion Rogers had heard in her voice.

"C'mon you two, the others are already moving in." Mia then crouched and ran to the nearest tree, ducking behind it. Murtagh raced past, plastering himself to another tree ahead and to the left of Mia. Max followed the pattern, racing down the line to a tree ahead of Murtagh and to the right of Mia. As soon as she was crouched, Rogers mimicked their posture and raced forward, putting himself ahead and center of the group. They continued the fashion, but Rogers was already trying to figure out what they were going to do when they ran out of trees. A circumference of 200 yards surrounded the building, completely stripped of cover. Mia was the one who hit the tree line first. She turned, then pointed at Rogers and gestured for him to come meet her. Racing forward, he hid behind a bush that grew with the tree. Mia leaned forward, putting her mouth beside his ear.

"Run hard, run fast. Harsh dip at the fence. Wait for us." She pulled back and he gave a nod of understanding. Satisfied, she looked at Murtagh, who sat at the back and nodded. He crossed to the tree line, placing himself a couple of yards to the left. Max followed, echoing his position to the right of them.

As soon as the other two were settled, Mia tapped Rogers on the back. Taking the cue, he burst forward. Training kicked in, and he darted from side to side, being as sporadic as he could. When he hit the fence, the dip was there. Concrete and at a harsh angle, the top would have come to his chin if he stoop up in the middle. There were enough leaves and branches to give him a slight bit of cover.

At that point he noticed the absolute silence that was around them. No birds, no wind, no crickets. It set his teeth on edge, made his hair stand up. He crawled up the side so he could look back into the forest. A snap made him jump out of his skin. He whipped around into that direction, gun and shield ready.

Thor was racing in from the south, bent low, but keeping a straight path. Apart from the tree branch that had cracked under his foot, there was no other sound from him. Rogers had to admit, the God could be silent when needed. Rogers lost sight of him as he dived into the south side of the dip, and Rogers was too far down the dip to see the east side. Stark and Barton were on that side. Romanov had taken the north.

Silence had fallen again, and he waited on edge for something to happen. Finally, Max sprinted from the trees. She was slow and seemed too focused on something to be aware of her surroundings. About halfway through, speed won out, and he realised why she had been taking to so slow. Max was flat footed, and his sensitive ears could pick up the thumping of her feet.

For her sake, Rogers prayed that Mia's statement of this place being deserted was right. Max dropped into the dip, sliding down the side and burying herself into debris, disappearing from Rogers' view. She might not be able to cross anything quietly, but she sure knew how to hide. There wasn't a single movement from where he thought Max was hiding until the other two were in the dip. It was almost comical when she popped her head out from the leaves after Mia had slid down. Max motioned for Rogers to come closer. Trying to make as little noise as possible, he crossed over to her. She pointed over to her shoulder at Murtagh, who was unthreading the chainlink fence, creating a hole. Mia was beside him, quietly removing her pack and jacket. Max looked back at Rogers and mouthed _we wait_.

As soon as the hole was big enough, Mia wriggled through, dashing to the second fence. Keeping crouched, she grasped on to it, then waited. Rogers started counting after a moment, and reached fifteen seconds when she finally nodded. Grabbing Mia's stiff, Max pushed through the hole and traveled down the second fence to a gate. As Rogers made his way over to the hole, he gave a Murtagh a puzzled look, then glanced at Mia. Getting his question, Murtagh mimed grabbing the fence then shaking violently. Rogers got it.

The two males made their way through the fence and over to where Max sat. Mia stayed behind, keeping a hand on the fence. As soon as the others were at the gate, she travelled over, keeping contact with the fence at all times.

The gate was locked with a pin and the largest padlock Rogers had ever seen. Max tapped it, then looked at him and gestured breaking the lock open. He could do it, but Rogers didn't know if it would be quiet or not. He put a finger to his lips, then shrugged, hoping they would get it. Max nodded, glancing over at Mia for permission. After a moment of hesitation, Mia nodded at Rogers.

After it being so quiet, Rogers had no way of knowing if the crack from the padlock was actually loud, or just overly so from the lack of sound. It seemed to echo around them though, and felt like someone had fired a gun by his ear. Murtagh winched, and Max clapped her hands over her ears, grimacing. Mia simply pushed through the fence and raced to the third and final one. Again she checked to see if it was charged, then motioned the others over. The third one was in the worst shape, and large gaps and raised pieces were along the bottom, giving them easy access under and to the building. Windows were everywhere, and although they were tinted, a couple were broken, giving them a view into the building. Instead of bothering with the handless door that was near them, Mia boosted Max into the largest broken window. She then jumped onto the sill, offering her hand to Rogers. Murtagh put his back to the wall, offering a cupped hand for a foothold. There was no way he way going to make it in by himself without making some noise, so he took the help and perched himself on the sill, offering a hand down to Murtagh. Together, Rogers and Mia pulled him up onto the sill. The floor was half a story high from outside, but inside, it reached waist height, letting them ease into the building with little noise. The four of them crouched there for a moment as Mia scanned left and right. The hallway had no markings, no doors, no signs in it. Apart from previous knowledge, and the view from outside, Rogers assumed that she had no reference to where they were.

After a moment, she pointed to the right. Murtagh was at the head, and she crept forward, crouched and weapon ready. The group made their way down the hallway, keeping below the window sill. At one point, Rogers glanced back to see if the other two were following. That's when he noticed that Mia was in the same position as them, walking the same speed as Max, and was going backwards, keeping her eyes trained down the hallway. If he could have spoken, he would have commented on how good her spatial perception was. He doubted if even Barton or Romanov could pull that move off for this long.

They continued that way until Murtagh reached a point close to the end. Crossing over, he slowly inched his head around the corner. Satisfied, he moved into the hallway, again pressing himself under the sill. He motioned for the others, and they made their way over.

They hadn't gone ten steps before they heard a creak and whirr of metal and motors. Murtagh froze, gun already raised and pointed down the hall. Rogers shuffled over a bit, trying to get a clear shot. He could hear Max turning to face the opposite way with Mia.

Silence.

Silence.

Silence.

Rogers realized he was holding his breathe, waiting for something to happen. Rookie mistake. Exhaling slowly, he tried to gain control over his breathing.

_Whhiirr… clunk!_

Closer this time.

_Whhhhiiiiirrrrr, chuck chuck chuck._

There was the sound of shuffling, then the glint of an arrowhead could be seen coming around the corner.

Rogers couldn't help that he relaxed when he saw the object. Anyone could have a Bow and Arrow. Any one of his team mates could have been compromised –an option and wound that was still glaringly fresh to the team- and now working for the enemy. But Rogers felt himself loosen up as Barton glanced around the corner. Barton himself gave a small nod towards them, then motioned behind. Kaden and Eragon rounded the corner, setting up on either side of the hall. Then Stark emerged, crouched, but holding part of his armour in his hand. Rogers couldn't help but note how completely uncomfortable Stark looked.

He had stripped down one of his prototypes for this mission, leaving him with half a helmet and an eye piece, a chest piece for protection, blasters and controls on the hands, and blasters on the feet. He wouldn't be flying anywhere far, but if he needed to get out of the way quick, he had that ability.

Stark had still confessed that he felt stripped and exposed.

Murtagh had yet to relax, even when his brother – at least, that's what the files had stated— had emerged. He went through a couple of hands signals. Eragon answered with a nod then a shake of his head, then held up three fingers. There was a pause, and then Eragon did the same hand signals. Murtagh gave the same response. Then they both stared moving towards each other, keeping their crouch and positions on the wall.

Eragon stopped first, motioning that he'd found a door. Slowly Murtagh and his three made their way towards the others. Once they got there, Mia pulled up from the back and put herself against the door, staying low. Double doors and steel, no cracks or spaces between them. They fit seamlessly together. She grasped it, then gave a pull. The look of mild surprise on her face as the door started to open made Rogers think that it shouldn't have been this easy. She held up three fingers, then two.

One.

They were flung open, and the group poured into the room.

Only to stop dead at the sight.

Rogers couldn't grasp it… couldn't comprehend what was in front of him. His eyes kept blurring.

It was only when he heard Stark retching behind him that the room came into focus.

Hanging from the rafters were forty… fifty bodies. Their hands bound, many of them with eyes open. The smallest one couldn't have been older than a year. They were all buzz cut hair, enough muscle on them to keep them running, but still painfully skinny. Every one wore the same white shirt and grey pants. Pairs of boots could be seen under the beds that were in the room. Every single pair of feet in the air was bare.

There wasn't a single look of fear on the faces. Just weary acceptance.

Double doors were located on the other end of the hall. The group flinched and crouched when they swung open, only to relax a bit at the sight of Alice and Thor. Alice's face fell when she saw what hung from the ceiling, forming into the same look of acceptance. Rogers glanced around, noticing that all the other HavenBloods had the same look on their face.

Been there, seen this.

"What is this madness? What demons did this?" Thor called, visibly upset. Mjolnir extended in his hand, humming with power. He glanced around at the others, taking sight of Mia. He stormed towards her.

"Why did you bring us to this? What do you know that we do not-"

"We told you everything we know." Mia snapped. The comment seemed to drain her of energy, and she hunched over.

"We were too late… that's all."

Romanov, JC, and Lisbeth appeared at the other end where Alice still stood. Romanov stared at the ceiling with a blank face, making her way over to stand with Barton. Mia glanced over at the two, then took stock of everyone else.

"JC, Lisbeth, Eragon, Stark. Find the offices and see if you can pull anything out of the computers. Barton, Max… go find a way out of here. Shortest and clearest path back to the trees. Everyone else… lets get them down from there."

"What are we going to do… bury fifty different bodies?" Rogers asked. Mia turned around to glare at him.

"I'm not leaving them here. Their final resting place is not going to be _this_ corner of hell."

* * *

When they reached the tree line, Max kept walking. Barton hesitated for a moment, then followed her, keeping a respectable distance between them. They'd gone a couple of yards before they hit an area where the trees thinned.

"We should get some wood…. Mia's going to want wood, and we're going to need a lot of it." Max mumbled, scuffing her shoe into the ground. Barton had to admit, for being a kid, she was taking this well. Better than Stark, who had splattered whatever meal was in his stomach all over the floor. Better than Thor who was so very close to letting loose a bolt. Better than Barton himself… although no one would notice that he was close to losing it apart from Nat. And she wouldn't say anything unless he needed it.

Barton didn't question the wood thing, just turned and walked deeper into the woods, looking for anything burnable. They worked in silence, slowly building up a large platform where there was enough wet ground and clearing to keep from the whole forest going up. That's what Barton assumed they were doing.

Thor was the first to show up. There was a small bit of Barton that admired the god showing his emotions. Tears ran into his beard as Thor placed the body wrapped in a sheet on the edge of the platform. The rest soon followed, placing the bodies in a row beside the first. It took them six trips to bring all the bodies out. Near the end, Stark and his group emerged. He'd stripped the suit off, and has slicked his hair into a presentable look. When Barton looked, he merely nodded. Lisbeth made her way over to Max.

"They left in a rush. The Hardware wasn't even touched, and only half of their usual tricks were in place. We missed it by a couple of hours."

Max nodded, then dragged a hand quickly across her face, streaking the dust that was on her face, making the tear tracks disappear.

"They're coming back soon then… we should get started." She reached down and grabbed the pile of starter sticks she had been working on once the platform had been done. They were handed off to Lisbeth as Max reached into her coat for a lighter. The branches were lit then passed out, and Barton found himself in possession of one. He glanced around and noticed that he was the only Avenger that did have a blazing branch in their hand.

At some unknown cue, the HavenBlood walked forward and thrust the branches into the base of the platform. He followed suit.

They'd built it well, and it wasn't long before the whole thing was ablaze, pushing them back with the heat and smoke.

"Atra du evarínya ono varda, helgr sundavar. Sé mor'ranr ono finna." Eragon called. Then there was simply the sound of the fire.

It took the Avengers some time before they realized that the HavenBloods had faded into the trees, leaving the flames to burn freely. They also turned and headed back to where they had started this mission.

The fire raged, climbing into the sky, unable to push out.

Trapped.

* * *

**A/N: "Hey KD, betcha can't write 1000 words with no dialogue" Challenge Accepted, CHALLENGE MASTERED! That was bloody hard to do. I'm an internal chatterer, and to not have any words spoken for over 1,700 was kind of unnerving.**

**What Eragon says is "May the stars watch over you, hallowed shadows. May you find peace."**

**Review please. I could really use the feedback.**


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